Day 6 consisted of giving it a couple of quick stirs, once in the morning before we left for Mike's sister's house to celebrate a belated Christmas with my in-laws... and once again when we returned home that evening. Not really a very exciting day Madder-wise, so I didn't take any photos. (trust me, you didn't miss anything that isn't featured in the other photos I've posted so far) :)
Day 7
Today marks the beginning of the washing step in the madder pigment making process. My instructions asked me to dump my madder dye / alum solution mix into the larger bucket, and to fill with fresh water. below is a final photo of what the madder dye / alum solution looks like after sitting (with occasional stirring) for three days. it's darkened & reddened quite a bit, seems fairly opaque, and the foam on the top has pretty much disappeared.
I poured the dye / alum solution into the larger bucket, and here is a photo of me pouring in some fresh, distilled water. I added almost two gallons of distilled water.
Fortunately, my large bucket is marked on the side with liters. My directions don't specify how many liters of liquid I should have at this step, but I leveled it off at 10 liters to make things simple from here on out. (my upcoming instructions direct me to siphon off a percentage of the total liquid) :)
My madder mix will sit, undisturbed (assuming I can keep Mike away from it) for 36 hours. The goal at this stage is for the now-dyed alum to settle out at the bottom. Soon, it will undergo several days of siphoning, and rinsing with fresh water before the final filtering where I can collect and dry the pigment.
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